Abortion and euthanasia

Abortion and euthanasia -1-

Learning objective • To know and understand the overview of the course • To know and understand some of the facts about abortion. KEY WORDS ABORTION PERSONHOOD TERMINATION KEY QUESTION WHAT IS A PERSON?

OVERVIEW • The requirements of the course • some quotes about abortion • abortion and the law • two doctors • Consider different types of abortion • some of the facts about abortion • two camps for abortion • Overview of the abortion issue • the idea of personhood

ABORTION AND EUTHANASIA • Abortion: definitions for the start of human life, including: potentiality, conception, primitive streak, viability, birth • The value of potential and real life • Mother’s versus child’s life, double effect • Ethical issues involved in legislation about abortion • Euthanasia: active or passive • Ethical issues involved in legislation about euthanasia; • Voluntary and involuntary; hospices and palliative care • The right of humans to determine when to die • Arguments for and against abortion and euthanasia with reference to religious and ethical teachings ISSUES ARISING • Does the definition of human life stop abortion being murder? • Can abortion and euthanasia ever be said to be ‘good’? • Do humans have a right to life, and a right to choose to die?

“To my mind life begins at the moment of conception... conception is the magic moment.” John Grigg QUOTES “I do not believe that a fertilised ovum is a human life in the commonsense meaning of the term. I believe human life begins at birth or more technically, when a foetus is sufficiently developed to be capable of living if removed from the mothers womb. That human life begins at the moment of conception is a religious tenet that makes no claim to scientific truth” Dee Wells “What could ever be a sufficient reason for excusing in any way the direct murder of the innocent?” Pope Pius XI

abortion • Abortion means the deliberate ending of life after the fertilisation of the human ovum and before birth. • Today abortion is common for a number of reasons; • Sex is seen as being more for pleasure than procreation • Women have a greater social and legal status • Low child mortality has reduced the need for so many children • Foetal abnormalities can be detected.

Abortion and the Law • Abortion became legal under The Abortion Act 1967. • Abortions can only be carried out in a hospital, or in a specialised licensed clinic. Pregnancies could be terminated up until 28 weeks. • In 1990, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act introduced controls over new techniques which had been developed to help infertile couples and to monitor experiments on embryos. Despite attempts to use this law to restrict abortion rights, the 1990 Act lowered the legal time limit from 28 to 24 weeks. • In 2008 a motion failed to changed the law from 24 weeks to 22 or 20 weeks. • In Northern Ireland, abortion is still illegal.

Types of Abortion • Providing that two doctors confirm that her need for an abortion fits the legal criteria, a woman does not need the consent of her own doctor, her partner or her family to have an abortion. • Women under 16 can have an abortion, without parental consent in some circumstances. • There are three main types of abortion: • Vacuum aspiration or suction termination (from 7 to 15 weeks of pregnancy). • Surgical dilation and evacuation (D&E) (from 15 weeks of pregnancy). • Surgical dilation and evacuation (D&E) (from 15 weeks of pregnancy).

FACTS ABOUT abortion • Abortion is commonplace in many countries • With tens of millions of abortions taking place each year. • According to the department of health data in 2006 there were over 193,700 abortions in England and Wales and 198,499 in 2007 • The majority were conducted under 13 weeks gestation. • The proportion of women having abortions in England and Wales is increasing.

Two camps • There are two camps when it comes to abortion: • PRO-LIFE • Pro-life campaigners argue against abortion. They think that the life of the foetus should come before the choice of the mother. • PRO-CHOICE • Pro-choice campaigners argue for abortion. They think that the choice of the mother should come before the life of the foetus.

Abortion ISSUES? • A key issue that we have to consider is: • When does a foetus become a person? • This is important because our key question is • Does the definition of human life stop abortion being murder? • The criminal act of murder only applies to a PERSON. When a becomes a PERSON its gets all the legal rights of a human in Britain.

personhood • A person is a being that deserves protection under the law. • One of the issues raised by abortion surrounds the definition of a person. • The point at which a life becomes a human is the point at which it is wrong to kill it because it will be protected by the law. • When we talk about LIFE or the START OF LIFE we will be referring to the start of HUMAN LIFE

REVIEW • The requirements of the course • Considered some quotes about abortion • Looked at abortion and the law • Know that two doctors are needed • Considered different types of abortion • Understand some of the facts about abortion • Know that there are two camps for abortion • Overview of the abortion issue • Introduced the idea of personhood

Learning objective • To know and understand the definitions for the start of life. KEY WORD KEY WORDS CONCEPTION POTENTIAL VIABILITY KEY PHILOSOPHERS GLOVER THOMPSON

homework You should EXPLAIN the main points of view for the start of life. You should demonstrate a personal viewpoint but do not evaluate. Make sure you explain each point fully, developing it with evidence and linking the paragraphs together to create a full picture of the different points of view. • Explain the different definitions for the start of life. • 30 marks • Article 31and 32 will help from the reading pack. • In addition, create a mnemonic to remember the arguments for the start of life

WHAT IS A PERSON?

PERSONHOOD • When a foetus is given the legal status of a person is essential to understanding the debate over abortion. • This is because killing a person would be considered murder. • If the foetus is given the status of a person before birth it means that anybody terminating a baby after that time would be guilty of murder. • The claim: abortion is murder would be justified

Definitions for the start of life CONCEPTION PRIMITIVE STREAK • There are lots of different definitions for the start of life (personhood) here are the main ideas. POTENTIALITY PRE-EXISTENCE VIABILITY CONSCIOUSNESS

potentiality • Many people believe that a foetus should be given the status of a person because it is a POTENTIAL person. • This is called POTENTIALITY • Anything that has POTENTIAL to be a human is a human. • What do you think about this? • Does that mean we should include Sperm and eggs?

Pre-existence • Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists believe in reincarnation. • Reincarnation contains the idea of pre-existence. • This is the belief that the soul or existence of the new life has lived before. • It is a returning life and is not a newly created existence. • Life therefore has INTRINSIC worth.

conception • Conception is the point at which the unique selection of genetic information is present • It is the moment the sperm and the egg have combined to create a fertilized ovum. • if allowed to continue and successful in development will go on to be a unique human being. • 1869 Pope Pius declared that a foetus is a human person from the moment of conception. • This has been the basis for Roman Catholic teaching on abortion that to kill a foetus is to murder a human person.

critics • The fertilized egg is too different from anything that we normally recognize as a person to be called the same thing. • THOMPSON- accepts that there is continuous development in foetal growth but suggests that there is a point at which it is not a human being. • “There is continuous growth from acorn to oak true but an acorn is not an oat tree; just as a fertilized ovum – is not a person.” • GLOVER – to call a foetus a human at the point of conception stretches the term beyond normal boundaries.

Primitive streak • Others have identified the presence of the primitive streak on the fourteenth day after fertilization, as the point at which a unique human being can be said to exist, albeit in potential form. • The primitive streak provides the structure around which embryonic structures organize and align themselves. • Up until that point it is not clear whether one individual or more than one individual will form, and at this point it becomes clear which cells will go on to form the placenta and which go on to form the embryo.

PRIMITIVE STREAK • The ‘primitive streak’ is evidence of the start of the nervous system at 2 weeks. At this point it is thought that the young embryo can experience pain and has primitive sensations. • 14 days is the limit for embryo research. After this point it cannot be used. • This demonstrates that the law is recognising the change in the foetus at this point.

Criticisms • Thomson and Glover’s observations could still be made about the foetus at this time. • THOMPSON- there is a point at which the foetus is not a human being. • “There is continuous growth from acorn to oak true but an acorn is not an oat tree; just as a fertilized ovum – is not a person.” • GLOVER – to call a foetus a human at the point of primitive stretches the term beyond normal boundaries. It is completely unrecognisable.

consciousness • Consciousness may be suggested as a definition of personhood. • Consciousness cannot be applied to all living tissue, as it implies sensory experiences, the ability to feel pleasure and pain. However, consciousness would include many animals, and most would argue that animals are not persons in the same sense as humans are. • The presence of rationality, and our ability to develop complex language and make complex tools, are distinctive features of personhood

consciousness • However studies of chimpanzees and dolphins show that many higher animals use complex communications and can make tools with which to manipulate their environments. • Perhaps self-consciousness or self-awareness defines a human person. • This includes a sense of our own past and future. • However, very young babies are not self-aware in this sense and yet very few people would argue that killing a baby is not the same as killing a person, but this does not necessarily imply that full legal status should be aware on the basis of what it has the potential to be. • A potential victory is not the same as a victory. • A potential person is not equal to a person.

viability • Viability is the point at which human personhood should be recognised. • Viability means when the foetus can survive a birth and exist independent of the mother. • This used to be referred to as quickening when the mother first felt the foetus move although now first-movement feeling and viability are not connected. 20-24 WEEKS

Criticisms to viability • The age which the foetus can survive outside the womb is reducing as medical technology progresses. • The moral judgement is made on the basis of technical ability rather than anything inherent to the foetus. • Second there are many people who are dependent on continual medical assistance such as dialysis in order to survive. We consider them to be persons despite their medical conditions. • Also even healthy born human babies would not survive without adult aid.

birth • Warren 1991 – argues that ‘birth, rather than some earlier point, marks the beginning of true moral status’ • If a foetus is a person, then sperm and ovum are persons. • Birth provides a clear boundary. • Glover rejects this argument because of the similarity between later foetuses and premature babies. • Birth marks clear stage in the process of coming into the world and presents a stage of recognition by others that the baby is an individual.

OTHER Issues • The MORAL STRUGGLE over personhood is unresolved even though the legal issue is settled. • Vardy and Grosch – note that despite the many attempts at drawing a dividing line in the foetus’s development there is no easy way of drawing the line with certainty. • 1985 – Gallagher asks us to recognise that change is gradual. • If an embryo is x at one time and James at another time, then there will be a time when it is part x and part James.

OTHER Issues • While personhood does not provide a clear solution to the abortion debate, the moral status of the foetus is crucial. • in a book on Christian Ethics – SELLING has argued that if a being qualifies as a person, then it has a direct moral standing with rights, and others have a duty towards it. • Whether that duty extends to full human status remains in dispute.

What do you think? • Write an explanation of what you think is the start of life on the slide below and next. Say why and give a developed reason using PEE.

What do you think?

review • Abortion is the termination of a foetus before it goes full term. • There are 5 definitions for the start of personhood these all use different justifications for the potential of human life. • Pre-existence • Conception • Primitive streak • Consciousness • Viability • Birth WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

Learning objective • To consider whose life is more important the mother or the foetus. • To consider the self defence argument as a justification for abortion. KEY WORDS SELF DEFENCE ECTOPIC PREGNANCY DOUBLE EFFECT KEY QUESTION WHOSE LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT?

overview • This lesson introduces one of the key issues in debate over abortion. • It discusses whose life is more important • The mother or the child • This presents one of the arguments for the justification of abortion. • Main philosophers: Thompson

Times when a person would want an abortion • What about when a woman’s life is in danger?

Getting pregnant • A pregnancy and a growing foetus have an enormous impact on the mother. • Not only does it cause physiological and emotional changes it places the mother’s body under enormous pressure and has significant health risks attached. • In the past before developed health care childbirth was a principal cause of women’s death and it remains so in less economically developed countries. LDEC’s

The issue • There is a complex question about the conflicting interests between mother and child. • At one end of the spectrum are the severe danger of death examples: • An ectopic pregnancy will kill both the mother and the child if left uninterrupted. • There are also increased chances of pregnancy aggravating existing health problems. • Mothers with heart complaints or high blood pressure are under increased risk of serious problems. ECTOPIC PREGNANCY A pregnancy in which the foetus develops outside the uterus.

The issue • If mothers become unwell decisions about taking medicines are complicated by the possible harmful effects those medicines may have on the unborn foetus – one must be weighted against the other. • These seem to suggest a rather unpalatable reality, that what may be good for a mother can sometimes harm the baby and vice versa. • Interests can conflict leaving a moral problem centred on the question of mother and baby equality.

The life of the mother • In some situations it is hard to determine whose life is more important: Mother child Vs.

A defence of abortion - Thompson • Thompson sees abortion as an issue of self-defence and uses this to justify it in some cases. • If the foetus threatens the health of the mother abortion is a defensive measure against unacceptable dangers. • Thompson uses the example of a cardiac condition which should the pregnancy be allowed to continue would place the mother in real danger.

A defence of abortion - Thompson • Thompson argues that it cannot be seriously suggested that a person must be stopped from saving their own life for the life of another. • It cannot be suggested that they must sit by and wait for death. • We can think of examples where someone is reasonably prevented from risking their life for a child – such as entering a burning building to save a child stranded inside.

A defence of abortion - Thompson • Once the fire is too bad the decision is made not to risk further life even though the desire of the parent to risk all and try is instinctive and laudable. • To prevent someone from escaping such a fire out of a duty to another seems unreasonable and unnatural • It is beyond a persons moral duty to give up their life for another. In the case of abortion if a woman’s life is in danger she should not be obligated to give up her life. • If she does, she goes beyond the requirements of morality.

Questions? • How should a decision be made about the two rights to life; that of the mother or the baby? • Who should decide which life should be preserved over and above the other? • While we might kill in self-defence, it is unclear whether we should kill an innocent in self defence. • Perhaps the foetus has the right of self defence against the mother?

Double effect DOUBLE EFFECT: this is a doctrine devised to deal with moral conflicts in natural law theory. It says that it is always wrong to do a bad act intentionally in order to bring about good consequences. It is sometimes permissible to do a good act while at the same time knowing that it will bring about bad consequences. In rough terms, this is sometimes translated as ‘provided your intention is to follow the rule, you can “benefit” from any unintended consequences. • One position which takes account of the threat to the mothers life is that which argues for a double effect way of thinking. • It may be that a medical procedure is necessary to protect the life of the mother which inadvertently and indirectly leads to the termination of the pregnancy. • In this way of thinking the action is not deliberately to kill but deliberately to save life. • The death of an innocent is an unfortunate side-effect.

Double effect • Pregnancy does increase certain risks but it does not mean death is likely for the mother, except on rare occasions. • What is difficult is deciding what risk is reasonable for mothers to have to take before permission for an abortion can be given. • Linked to this is the question of who has the authority to decide if not the mother herself. • Your view of a reasonable risk may differ from someone else’s. • Risk may also be influenced by other factors – such as the risk to other children in the family who may lose their mother. • How are these to be accounted for?

Abortion and euthanasia